5 Ways to Engage with Patients More Effectively

One of the biggest buzzwords in the corporate world, at universities, and in the health care business is engagement. Whether you are doing it through face-to-face consultation, email correspondence, social media platforms, or by having a well-trained and attentive staff who can answer patient questions, engaging effectively is a vital asset. To help generate that kind of value-adding engagement, here are five tips or ways to engage with patients more effectively.

Stay in Touch

Whether it is through newsletters, Twitter tweets, Facebook updates, or in-office health seminars and similar events, keeping in touch is the key to patient engagement.

Patient Surveys

A great way to get feedback from your patients while making them feel more involved in their health care is to use anonymous electronic surveys. Ask patients questions to determine how satisfied they are, how informed they are, or what suggestions they have for your office.

In-House Workshops

Another engagement tool that patients love is when you host health-related seminars at your office. These could be about topics like nutrition or exercise, or you could invite professionals from complementary modalities like massage or acupuncture to give presentations and answer questions.

Invest in Staff Training

If your staff – from the receptionist to the lab technician to your nurses – are better equipped to know how to be active listeners, they can become your eyes and ears. That alone can significantly magnify the level of patient engagement as they continuously dialog with patients on any number of different issues and consciously nurture interpersonal patient/provider relationships.

Schedule More Wisely

Because health care professionals are so busy these days, it is easy to overlook the value and importance of patient engagement. The most direct kind of engagement is talking one-on-one with your patient, and the best opportunity to make that happen is during routine office visits. So set aside an extra 10 minutes per patient and you’ll exponentially increase the level of engagement.